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Edward Snowden speaking to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Credit: Reuters

Whistleblower Edward Snowden has said that the US National Security Agency deliberately listened in on the activities and staff of prominent human rights organisations.

Addressing members of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg via video link from Moscow, Snowden said that the NSA had deliberately monitored bodies like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

He told MEPs: "The NSA has targeted leaders and staff members of these sorts of organisations, including domestically within the borders of the United States." Snowden did not reveal which groups the NSA had bugged.

The Council of Europe invited the White House to give evidence but it declined.

Weapons experts at the charity identified two types of casing, including 15AO-1Sch cluster bomblets and a RBK-250 canister used to deliver the submunitions. Both, it claims, are made in Russia.

Steve Goose, from the charity's arms division, said: “If confirmed, this would be the first documented use of these highly dangerous weapons by the Syrian armed forces during the conflict.”

The videos were uploaded by a user called 'Afamia1985'. Human Rights Watch could not reach him for comment, but a local activist who claimed to know him confirmed that the footage was shot in the opposition area of Jabel Shahshabu in northwestern Syria.

Cluster bombs release a spray of smaller bomblets covering an area the size of a football pitch. They can remain on the ground unexploded for many years posing a threat to civilians. Neither Syria nor Russia are signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions which bans their use.